The present invention, generally, relates to computer networks and, more particularly, to methods, systems and computer program products for managing such computer networks.
In today's disparate information technology world, object-oriented information models, such as the Common Information Model (CIM) by Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and the NetIQ Common Information Model (IQCIM) by NetIQ Corporation, have become increasingly more critical in enabling different management products from different vendors to exchange semantically rich management information via computer networks. The CIM Query Language (CQL) Specification is discussed at world wide web address dmtg.org/standards/published_documents/DSP0202.pdf.
Object-oriented common information models, such as CIM and IQCIM, represent managed IT resources and their aggregate functions/services having discrete object classes and associations. Objects indicate the existence of the resources and aggregate functions and describe their properties. Associations describe the logical relationships between the objects, such as a computer is being used for an IT service.
As managing IT resources becomes increasingly more important, it may be common for a company to utilize multiple management point products to manage its IT resources. In an enterprise's IT environment, it is common to use different point products purchased from multiple and/or single vendors to manage IT resources from different aspects, such as performance and availability management, change and vulnerability management and/or security event management. It is also common that different point products from different vendors, or even from a single vendor, use different representations for a same IT resource. For example, to represent a same computer object, one point product may use a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), and another point product may use the FQDN combined with some sort of type data.
Furthermore, there is also no defining standard for storage and retrieval of configuration item (CI) data within a configuration management database (CMDB). Thus, customers in an enterprise IT environment have no means for integrating or leveraging multiple CMDBs from different vendors without substantial custom development by in-house staff or professional services engagements through systems integrators.
In an Information Technology (IT) environment, products can be found that are geared to element management, both by using host based or proxy based agents and also Manager of Managers, which mostly subscribe to event and data from element management applications. It is easy for the administrator of these manager of mangers products to be unaware that specific data or events needed by the product are not available, which could possibly lead to false positive or inaccurate information.